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19
It will be seen from the tables that of the sixty-one deaths under the age of
one year, no less than thirty were four weeks of age or under, and prematurity is
given as the cause of death in the cases of fourteen babies, who died within the first
four weeks of life.
The fact that thirty died within the first month, leaving only thirty-one
deaths for the remaining eleven months of the first year of life, shows that our chief
problem at the present time is still the mortality among the newly born.
Out of the thirty babies who died under the age of one month, no less than
twenty died within the first week.
It is to be noted that although the comments in my 1936 Report still apply,
I am glad to say there has been a significant drop from thirty-eight to thirty babies
who died within the first month of life. This is a step in the right direction.
The high percentage of the number of deaths during the first week of life
continues, and I am persuaded that continued ante-natal care among the majority
of mothers, together with more consultative work with your Consultant Gynaecologist
and Obstetrician, in the more difficult cases, will lead to a decrease in this number,
but this aim cannot be achieved when the actual cause of death is still ill defined in
so many cases. When the time arrives that routine post mortem examination in
all still-births is undertaken, then and then only will direct evidence be ascertainable
upon the causes of infant mortality.
The number of deaths from respiratory diseases, I am still pleased to say, has
shown a slight decline.